Three years in the making, Africa’s tallest skyscraper has risen in the desert, 45 kilometres east of the Nile and the centre of Cairo.
The concrete structure of the 385-metre Iconic Tower was completed in June, and the steel structure is expected to be finished in August. The completed building is scheduled to be ready in the first quarter of 2022.
It will be the centrepiece among the 20 towers of the Central Business District (CBD) in the New Administrative Capital, a megaproject launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in 2015.
“This is a new era for Egypt – to enter into skyscrapers and super-tall buildings,” says Ahmed Al Banna, project manager for the CBD from Dar Al-Handasah, the designer and supervision consultant.
“The Iconic Tower itself will be the symbol and trademark for the new capital. It will show the seriousness of the government and the president to have a new capital with all the facilities.”
What is in the New Administrative Capital?
The new administrative capital – roughly the size of Singapore – is being designed as a high-tech, environmentally friendly city that includes a presidential compound, government ministries, offices, hotels, retail outlets, residential areas, sports facilities, schools and universities, a monorail, a giant park and the 35-kilometre Green River.
A main goal of the $45 billion project is to relieve congestion in Cairo, which is one of the world’s most crowded cities with a population of about 20 million, as well as create jobs and boost the economy.
The relocation of civil servants will begin in July and an official opening is planned for the end of this year, even though the first of three phases is not yet complete.
What is in the Central Business District?
The Central Business District is being built by China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) with a $3.5 billion loan from China.
"The goal is for this to be a business hub for all of Egypt," Khaled El Husseiny, spokesman for the New Administrative Capital, tells The National.
The budget for the 81-hectare district has now reached $3.85bn, according to Al Banna.
The Green River will flow through the Capital Park at the centre of the district. There will also be two crescent-shaped buildings that will include branded apartments and retail outlets.
“The CBD itself will be a complete city,” Al Banna says.
In addition to Iconic Tower, the 20 towers being built include 12 office buildings, five residential buildings and two hotels.
Concrete work on the office towers is complete and the facade work is about 70 per cent done, while skeletal work on the residential buildings and hotels is still in progress.
“Starting from the beginning of 2022, we will hand over some office towers two by two,” Al Banna says.
The residential buildings will also be handed over in 2022, but the Iconic Tower and two hotels will only be completely ready by the first quarter of 2023.
“The finished works will be very sophisticated,” Al Banna says. “The structure will be finished, but we have a lot of internal work until we hand over.”
What will the Iconic Tower be like?
Dar Al-Handasah, an architectural firm founded in Beirut in 1956 with a principal design centre in Cairo, began work on the Iconic Tower in May 2018, with construction starting in 2019.
The project is being jointly implemented by the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Communities and CSCEC, one of the world's largest contracting companies with about 1.62 trillion yuan ($250bn) revenue in 2020.
Built on an area of 65,000 square metres, the Iconic Tower – about half the height of the Burj Khalifa – will have 78 floors and two basement levels.
The first 40 floors will be offices, 10 will be branded apartments and 30 will be part of a five-star hotel.
There will be an observation deck on the 74th floor, where visitors can see the new capital at least 360 metres from the ground.
In comparison, the Cairo Tower – formerly the tallest building in Egypt and North Africa – is 187 metres. Elsewhere, the previous holder of the tallest building in Africa title is the 234-metre The Leonardo, a 55-floor, mixed-use property development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
What about the tower that was meant to be taller than the Burj Khalifa?
The Oblisco Capitale, a 1-kilometre tower in the shape of an Egyptian obelisk, was presented as a concept for the new capital, but it never came to fruition.
Ehab Mokhtar, managing director and chief designer at Idia Design, designed the tower at the request of El Nasr Housing & Development in 2017.
The visionary behind the project was Sayed Touba, the chief executive and chairman of the construction company, but he has since died.
The investment capital required was also a huge challenge and the Iconic Tower went ahead in the meantime.
“To have two towers at the same time coming up makes no sense for many stakeholders, so they decided to put this project on the side for a while,” Mokhtar said.
Although the project is on hold, Mokhtar said he hopes the architecture, which draws from both the Pharaonic and Art Deco styles, will inspire others.
He said the Central Business District is “more Dubai-like – which is good. But at the end of the day, it’s the new capital of Egypt, and Egypt is the source of inspiration for many things, so we should have something that shows our identity”.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
South and West: From a Notebook
Joan Didion
Fourth Estate
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
